


Second Time Lucky

by TakesInLight



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Workplace, no magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-17
Updated: 2012-08-17
Packaged: 2017-11-12 08:50:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TakesInLight/pseuds/TakesInLight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione Granger found herself back living with her parents with no job to speak of after a high-school-romance-turned-marriage went wrong. One evening she is at her friend's house, enjoying the night with the friends she stuck with since she graduated when a work opportunity arises.<br/>Thus, Hermione finds herself working as Draco Malfoy's personal assistant and having to deal with all the pros and cons of it. Let's not forget that somewhere down the line her friendship with Draco turns into much more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Second Time Lucky

**Author's Note:**

> 20/02/2016: I'm rewriting this, continuing it and posting it on my fanfiction.net account ArtEnchanter if you would like to follow this story again, you can find it over there.
> 
> Some clarification before you start reading: This is set in a world with no magic, in modern setting (this includes the internet, modern cars and such things).  
> The rating is currently at T due to the language, however it will quite possibly rise in future chapters so that should be kept in mind.  
> Also, I seem to be writing an awful lot of divorced!Hermione, aren't I? However unlike my previous fic, this isn't Romione. It is, in fact, Dramione.  
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated.

_To Miss Hermione J. Granger_

_After reviewing your application we are sorry to say that –_

She didn't have to read the rest of the letter to know what it said: she didn't get the job. Again.

At twenty years old Hermione Jean Granger was a jobless, divorced and living with her parents. It wasn't the ideal situation, as she always imagined that herself in university by now studying something proper like sciences or law. Instead, she was everything that her sixteen year old self didn't want to be.

It was petty and selfish, but she blamed others for it. At the tender of eighteen, Hermione was in a strange stage of her life and her present self now blamed her parents for not trying to stop her. However she knew that her parents only did it because she took _weeks_ to show them that she was happy and it was what she wanted.

She couldn't contain the embarrassment when she had to face her parents two years later and tell them that she regretted it. It was awful to meet her parents' eyes as they accepted them back into their home.

Because at the age of eighteen, Hermione Granger made a mistake that ruined her life.

During her time at Hogwarts High School and later the attached Hogwarts Sixth Form, she had a sweetheart. A boyfriend that she was with since she was fifteen – Ron Weasley. Tall, lanky and freckly he had ginger hair and blue eyes. He wasn't perfect, however Hermione didn't fool herself with believing that anyone was. She was just happy that someone liked her. She was the last girl in her class to get her first kiss and certainly the last one to loose her virginity – she made Ron wait until their wedding night.

A crush turned into something bigger and by the time that they were seventeen, Ron and Hermione were very much in love. As soon as they both graduated Hogwarts Sixth Form, the wedding happened. It was big and beautiful and everything was just like Hermione wanted – a perfect wedding for the perfect daughter, Hermione's dad said.

Shame that the two year marriage that followed was anything but perfect.

Hermione's parents spent the money for her university to give their daughter a perfect wedding, at her insistence of course. Not all of it was spent, so what was left over went into buying a flat for the newly-weds. Hermione, who was dazed with love and her new husband and  _sex,_ didn't think that she would be going to university. Ron got himself a job at a garage and Hermione was the stay-at-home wife who would eventually take care of the children. It was perfect. For a while.

The marriage crumbled into nothingness within two years, with arguments, drinking and  _a lot_ of angry sex followed by more arguments, walking out and tears. It was strange, one minute they were fine and the next all hell would break loose. Their high school love diminished with time and two months ago the divorce papers were finalised. It's been three since Hermione moved back in with her parents.

It's been one and a half since she took a hold of herself and tried to sort out her life.

The first thing on her to do list was to get a job. So far, all of her applications were denied. She didn't understand how – her GCSE and A-Level grades were  _immaculate._ However something always pushed Hermione's potential bosses away from her. It really pissed her off sometimes. What did the other have that she didn't?

Experience. Obviously. Because most people her age were either in university or working for quite a while already. She was neither.

She scrunched up the letter – why did they send a letter anyway? Calling would be easier – and threw it in the waste paper bin. Huffing, she grabbed her laptop (three years old, a birthday present from her Uncle) and laid down on her bed. She needed to let off some steam before going to send the next batch of emails with her CV attached in a failed attempt to find a job.

Logging into her Facebook account, she noticed that she had no notifications or friend requests and one message. It was from Harry Potter – a friend of hers from Hogwarts.

_**Harry 'Lion' Potter (Offline) Sent 5 hours ago** _

_Hey Hermione, fancy hanging out with the old crew tonight? Ron won't be there. Mine at 7pm. You know the place :P_

Hermione smiled at the message and his little nickname – back at Hogwarts they were separated into four houses and Harry was a Gryffindor and the mascot of his house was a lion. She met Harry when she was in Year 7, her first year at Hogwarts. He helped her after some bullies brought her to tears. Hogwarts was mainly a school for the rich, however it gave out a hell of a lot scholarships. Hermione was one of the kids who got a scholarship.

A lot of the rich kids didn't like her. It was like they targeted her for not being rich – something she had no control over.

But Harry saved her. He took care of her and stopped the bullies. He was also how she met the rest of the crew – Neville, Luna, Ginny and...and Ron.

Draco joining them was completely her own doing. He was originally part of the snobs that bullied her at first, but to put it crudely she beat some sense into him. During Year 9, she was forced to work with Draco for a project and he wasn't being very amiable. In the end Hermione had enough and punched him in the nose.

Thus her friendship with Draco Malfoy started and he became a part of their group.

_**Hermione 'Loves Books' Granger (Online) Sent seconds ago** _

_Sure. I'm guessing that it won't be all of us (excluding Ron)? Either way, see you at 7._

Hermione took a while to look through her other favourite websites. Quickly scanning through some funny picture sites and watched some videos on YouTube before spending a large amount of her time on her Tumblr blog. A lot of pictures were reblogged and liked.

She even updated her Tumblr blog with her own post. Tapping the keyboard lightly before starting to type, she thought of all eleven of her followers and how none of them will probably bother to read her post.

_**Title (optional)** _

_A reunion of sorts_

_**Post** _

_It's been a while since I've updated this. Over three months in fact. I was married when I last updated this – now I'm a divorced twenty year old._

_Things didn't go as planned and now I'm stuck searching for a job. So far, I didn't have any luck. I've been declined for all the jobs I applied for._

_I'll just have to keep on trying. I moved in back with my parents and I don't want to stay here forever. I love them, but I feel like I've let them down and I just need to get out and sort out my life._

_On a happier side note, I'm having a reunion of sorts. My friends back from school invited me to hang out tonight. It will be nice to see them again – a break from reality. Luckily Ron won't be there, I've been told. I can't bear to see him right now – haven't seen him since the divorce papers were finalised._

_I'm off now, I spent way too much time on the net already and I still need to get ready and get to Harry's._

Hermione published the post and closed her laptop. It was time to get ready. If she didn't look at least half-presentable then Draco would complain all night. Damn that prim and proper tosser.

Rolling out of bed, Hermione went to her wardrobe. Her clothes were half in her wardrobe and half of them still in the suitcase which was stood against the radiator. She took out some jeans and one of her nicer shirts.

A shower, make-up session and battle with the hair brush, Hermione got dressed and was finally ready to go. She grabbed her purse and checked how much money she had. Enough for a taxi and back, luckily. Hermione dialled the taxi company before she got into the shower, so it should be there anytime soon.

“Mum, I'm going out to Harry's!” She shouted as she ran down the stairs and out of the door. She didn't have to wait for a reply, her mother considered Hermione a responsible adult who knew how to take care of herself.

She only had to wait a few minutes for the taxi to arrive. It took about an hour and a bit of driving to get to Streatham in the third zone of London. Hermione's parents lived on the outskirts of London – moved there when Hermione was twelve – however due to the traffic it took absolute hours to get through London. Google Maps only said fourty-five minutes max.

By the time that she reached Harry's house, she was glad to be out of the traffic. Getting to Harry's was probably the worst part of the night, but at least they weren't going to Draco's. The ponce's parents bought him an apartment overlooking River Thames in Central London for his eighteenth.

She paid the taxi for the journey and thanked him. Hermione turned on her heel to face Harry's house. Unlike other posh twats that went to her school, Harry didn't live in massive mansions in the country or modern apartments that cost more than some people earned in a decade. His house was a normal, very British looking terraced house in Streatham – which wasn't known as the best place to live in London. It wasn't too bad, but rich Hogwarts alumni didn't exactly want to live there.

Hermione went past the gate and noticed some new flowers growing in the garden and that the hedge was freshly cut – Ginny probably forced Harry to make their front garden look presentable. The two had an on-off relationship since Sixth Form and only recently Harry proposed to her. Neither planned on having the wedding any time soon though, with Ginny trying to make herself big in the sports field and Harry constantly rushing around the country because of the company he inherited from his deceased parents.

She ran the doorbell and waited patiently for someone to open the door. After hearing Ginny's loud _'Harry get the door!'_ muffled from inside the building, the door opened for her. Harry stood on the other side grinning and immediately gave her a hug.

“Hey there Hermione.” He said to her, letting her go. “How are you?”

“I've been better.” Hermione confessed as she took her shoes off and hanged her bag on the coat hangers. There was a rule during their meet ups: anything that will distract you stays in the hallway. That included any sort of mobile phones – unless it was an absolute emergency.

“Still not having any luck?” Harry asked as they walked into the living room. Hermione only sighed in response.

“No game tonight?” Asked Hermione, noticing the lack of football on the TV screen. Instead, there was the second episode of BBC's TV Series _Sherlock._ Hermione didn't watch enough of it to call herself a fan, but the snippets that she saw were interesting enough.

“Draco decided to take control of the TV tonight because apparently his ear drums are damaged from me screaming in his ear while cheering.” Ginny replied from her seat on the sofa, taking a slip of her drink. “Which is why I will be fangirling over Benedict Cumberbatch quite loudly tonight.”

Hermione laughed, scanning the room. Ginny was lounging on the sofa with Harry joining her while Neville took up one of the beanbags. Luna was probably still in Scotland on a case, being a reporter for her dad's newspaper. Shame she couldn't make it, but apparently the article got really interesting really fast. Or at least in Luna's head, that is. Most of what 'The Quibbler' wrote was a load of bollocks; entertaining, but still a load of bollocks.

“Hey there Nev.” Hermione said, taking the seat in the armchair. “Where's our resident ponce?”

“Got him to go to the corner shop for some beer and wine.” Harry replied. “I'm still shocked that we went, I expected a hissy fit.”

“If you want a hissy fit, I can still do one.” Came a voice from the hallway, followed by the noise of the door closing. Draco, dressed in an expensive tailored suit leaned in the doorway to the living room, looking quite ridiculous holding two blue plastic bags full of alcoholic drinks. Low percentage of course, as they didn't want to get drunk, but to enjoy the night. The heavier stuff was stashed in the kitchen for other occasions.

“Please Malfoy, spare us the sight of a grown man wailing like a five year old.” Neville retorted. “And pass us the beer.”

“Hey Draco!” Ginny called out. “What did the shopkeeper say when you pulled money out of your ass?”

“Very funny Weaselette.” The blond drawled. “Budge up, Potter.”

Harry moved up on the three seater so Draco could sit down. The blonde man purposefully tried to take up as much space as possible to irritate the couple next to him. It took nearly full five minutes for Draco to be seated comfortably, which irritated Ginny as much as the blond hoped which got the redhead to force Harry to kick him in the shins.

“That was uncalled for.” Draco whined.

“Your ass on this sofa was uncalled for.”

“Well tough luck, ginger. I'm not planning on moving.” Childishly, he stuck his tongue out at her. Ginny flipped him off and stuck her tongue out too, which made Neville snort into his beer. Hermione too, had to hide her laughter.

“Right before this escalates further,” Neville said, nearly choking on his beer. “Did someone do anything interesting lately?”

Draco leaned back in his chair, a smug look on his face. “Came back from a _business trip_ to Paris two days ago.” He bragged.

“You mean a shopping trip. I bet you got this suit from there too.” Hermione said.

“And the shoes.” The man added. “Cost a fortune, but so worth it. But seriously, three days in Paris and two and a half were spent listening to old, boring businessmen trying to rip me off. I deserved a treat.”

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and took a sip of the wine – she was the only one who was drinking that. Her company preferred beer, however she hated the taste of that thing. She wasn't about to get absolutely wrecked, so her favourite – vodka – was out. “How about the rest of you?”

“Not really. The florist shop is slowly getting more recognition. Been swamped with paperwork and Gran constantly nagging for me to visit.” That's right. Neville set up a florist company with the money he inherited from his parents. It's now became a chain store and 'Longbottom Florists' was slowly becoming a well-known name in the higher circles.

“Training, that's all.” Ginny replied honestly. “Game's coming up and coach is complaining how we can't skip any training anymore. I think that Wood's just bummed that Harry still doesn't want to join the team and he's taking it out on us.” Ginny's football team had Harry for about a year, just after he finished Sixth Form, but he had to leave due to taking over the family company – his aunt and uncle left it to rot and he basically had to build it all over again. No time for football. Even if the team hasn't lost the game since he joined – just as his high school team did.

Harry barked a laugh. “Sounds like Wood alright. Still the same for me. Work, work and work. Then coming home and dealing with Ginny.”

“What's that supposed to mean, Potter?”

“Nothing dear.” Then to stop his fiancée from saying anything, he turned to Hermione. “How have you been, Hermione?”

Hermione sank in the armchair, shielding her face with the glass of wine. “Don't bother asking.” She grumbled. “Jobless and living with my parents. Living the dream, really.”

Awkward silence fell between the friends. Neville and Harry were nursing their drinks, not really looking anywhere specific while Ginny just stared everywhere away from Hermione's hunched form.

Draco on the other hand.

“Whoever didn't hire you is a _fucking moronic ass-butt._ ”

“Draco!” Hermione bellowed, although she wasn't sure just why she was defending those 'fucking moronic ass-butts' as Draco eloquently put it.

“What? It's true.” The blond defended himself. “You're the smartest person to graduate Hogwarts. Honestly, you had full marks or nearly that in all your subjects. What else do those morons want from you?”

Hermione didn't reply, her cheeks colouring at Draco's words. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair, feeling Draco's eyes on her. She wasn't looking at him.

“Hell, I would hire you in a heartbeat!” Draco continued ranting, knowing that he wouldn't get a reply. Then, he froze for a second at his words.

“Please tell me he's not thinking what I think he's thinking.” Ginny groaned, looking at Hermione in a way that clearly said _if it is what I think it is, good luck girl._

“I think I'm thinking what you think I'm thinking.” Draco said grinning. “Hermione, I shall hire you as my personal assistant!”

Dumbfounded, Hermione spluttered. “You want me to be your glorified secretary?” She said finally after calming down slightly.

“ _Personal assistant._ ” Draco insisted. “Of course, you will be paid much more than an assistant usually is and you'll get your own office...would a car and apartment be too much?” Draco kept on rambling about what would be included in her job and all the perks of it. He looked like a five year old ask what he wanted for Christmas.

“Not to burst your bubble Draco.” Harry finally stopped the blond, before the latter ran out of oxygen while rambling on a single breath. “But I don't think anyone in the world is qualified enough to deal with your shit.”

“Besides, I don't think I trust you enough to let Hermione work with you.” said Neville, with Ginny nodding her head in agreement.

“Oh come on, what other choice do we have? Those dicks won't hire Hermione, as genius as she is. She can't work with Harry because Ron comes to visit way too often. Neville's out too as she knows next to nothing about taking care of flowers. Don't get me started on sport.”

Hermione smiled sheepishly to herself. All of them remembered that day back in Year Eleven when she decided to try out for the school's football team. It was a disaster. The coach – Madam Hooch – probably still remembered it to this day. It was not something that could be easily forgotten.

“Believe it or not, he has a point.” Ginny said, turning to Hermione. “You have no say in this, by the way.”

“I gathered.”

 _It couldn't be so bad, could it?,_ Hermione thought.

**Author's Note:**

> It was requested that I did some explaining as to the British schooling system. I will do my best to briefly explain the important parts:  
> Before high school, we go to primary school which is from a young age - my sister started at 4 years old she's in 'Reception' which is like pre-school, however I believe that you can start at 5 years old and stay at home until then. It goes on for six years - which we call Year 1 through to Year 6. In Year 6 we take our SATS which are the exam results that we give to our high school. Everyone in the country does them in Maths, English and Science.  
> We start high school - or 'secondary school' as it's more commonly know here at the age of 11 and we finish when we're 16. There's five years of high school - years 7 through to 11. For years 7 to 9 we don't get to pick our subjects and everyone has the same ones. At the end of Year 9 we pick three/four subjects that we want to learn apart from the compulsory subjects - Maths, English, Science, Physical Education, ICT and Religious Studies. For example, in my school we picked our subjects by having a table with the subjects separated through it. Some subjects took two subject blocks as they had a lot of content, so some people only had three different subjects, but same amout of lesson time. I picked French, Additional Science, Triple Science and French. Additional Science is basically normal Science but with a bit more content. We don't really have our Sciences separated in the UK, unless you're taking Triple Science when you get a GCSE in Biology, Physics and Chemistry rather than just Science or Additional Science. Also, sometimes you have to pick a certain subject to take another one - like you have to have Additional to take Triple.  
> We study those subjects for two years, until end of Year 11. Our exams are spread throughout the two years mostly. Some are coursework based, some are a mix of coursework and exams and some are purely exam based. Exams generally take in November, Janurary, March and then the summer May-June exams. We can also take our exams early, like I had my Maths taken in Year 9 to get a grade C and then concentrated on getting an A/A* for the next two years.  
> After Year 11, we go to a College or a Sixth Form - both of which are pretty much same thing, however a Sixth Form is more academic with A-Levels to take you to University while college is generally courses to prepare you for a job. However, most Sixth Forms and Colleges give a variety of A-Levels and courses to pick from respectively.  
> A-Levels are the qualifications that you can gain in College or Sixth Form at the end of your two-year course. In the first year we take AS Levels (what I'm doing now) and in the second year we take A2 courses (more advanced versions of what we took in AS). We pick three to four (most people do four) subjects to study in college. I know someone who took five, although that is rare. Non-A-Level courses give us diplomas at the completion of it, which we can show to potential employers.  
> Other little things that you should know about the British education system is that throughout our schooling we are in those things called 'forms' which are basically a group of students lead by a teacher which exists for you to get to know people, sometimes take part in competitions with other forms in your year such as during Sports Day and is generally there for guidance - kind of like homeroom in America.  
> Our grading system is the A*-U. A*, A, B and C are the passing grades with A* being the highest. Then there is D, E, F, G and U which are the non-passing grades. In order to get into a rather good college and later university, you need at least a C in Maths, English and Science at GCSE and then whatever is the specification for your course. People who failed to get their Cs or above can re-take their GCSEs in college along with their A-Levels.  
> I hope this helps a little, and if you have more questions then just ask or there is always Google :)


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